Saturday in the Seventh Week of Easter, May 18, 2024

John 21, 20-25

Peter turned and saw the disciple following whom Jesus loved, the one who had also reclined upon his chest during the supper and had said, “Master, who is the one who will betray you?” When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, “Lord, what about him?” Jesus said to him, “What if I want him to remain until I come? What concern is it of yours? You follow me.” So the word spread among the brothers that that disciple would not die. But Jesus had not told him that he would not die, just “What if I want him to remain until I come? What concern is it of yours?”  It is this disciple who testifies to these things and has written them, and we know that his testimony is true. There are also many other things that Jesus did, but if these were to be described individually, I do not think the whole world would contain the books that would be written.

With this Mass we leave the weekdays of the Easter season and also the Gospel of St. John and we resume Ordinary Time.

“Peter turned and saw the disciple following whom Jesus loved, the one who had also reclined upon his chest during the supper.”  The “disciple” is John the Apostle.  We have seen Peter and John together earlier when they raced to the Lord’s tomb, and they appear together in the Acts of the Apostles.  They, together with St. James (John’s brother) appear together with Jesus on various occasions, such as at the Transfiguration.  Peter and John, along with St. James the son of Alphaeus, will act as a ruling council of the Church in Jerusalem.  “Who had also reclined upon his chest”: this is a literal translation of a Greek idiom that simply means that John was reclining in a couch next to the one Jesus was reclining in.

“Lord, what about him?”  This seems a strange question.  It makes more sense when we remember that Jesus had just asked Peter, three times, if he loved him.  At the end of the questioning, Jesus said to Peter, “Follow me.”  Peter is asking Jesus if John will have some special status due to his loyalty, standing under the Cross while Peter had denied him.  Peter may wonder if John will now be the one on whom Jesus builds his Church.  “What if I want him to remain until I come? What concern is it of yours? You follow me.”  Jesus is saying to Peter that his status has not changed; he is the one on whom he will build his Church.  At the same time, Peter is not to concern himself with John’s own mission.  Jesus asks the question “What if I want him to remain, etc.” not in order to put ideas into anyone’s head but as a manner of speaking, as though instead he could have said, What if I want him to cross the ocean and spread the Gospel in a new land?  “So the word spread among the brothers that that disciple would not die.”  We see what happens when people take up the words of Jesus without understanding.  John may have included this incident simply to set the story straight, that the Lord had not indicated that he would live until the Lord returned,

“It is this disciple who testifies to these things and has written them, and we know that his testimony is true.”  This would seem to have been written by someone other than John.  Since John himself did not make the claim in the Gospel that he himself was writing it, but also to reaffirm that the Gospel was based on eyewitness testimony of the best kind, the writer added this, perhaps in the margin of the original manuscript, since all the ancient manuscripts of the Gospel have this.

“There are also many other things that Jesus did, but if these were to be described individually, I do not think the whole world would contain the books that would be written.”  This would seem to be the original ending.  John does not record the Lord’s Ascension into heaven — though he hints at it — but leaves Jesus on earth, as it were, as though to show the Lord’s continuing presence with his Church, “the Lord working with them and confirming the word with signs that followed” (Mark 16, 20), as St. Mark puts it. 

The thirty-eighth article in our continuing series on the Holy Mass: The Prayers Said by the Priest Before and After Mass

“Every high priest taken from among men is ordained for men in the things that appertain to God, that he may offer up gifts and sacrifices for sins” (Hebrews 5, 1).  Because the reason for the existence of the Catholic priesthood is to offer the Sacrifice of the Mass, the priest must prepare for it properly and also make acts of thanksgiving for the privilege of having offered it.  The Church has composed and handed down various prayers for the priest to use for these purposes.  The most important is the statement of intention by which the priest makes an act of the will to offer the Sacrifice: “My purpose is to celebrate Mass and to make the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ according to the rite of the Holy Roman Church, to the praise of Almighty God and of the whole Church triumphant in heaven, for my own welfare and that of the whole Church militant on earth, for all who in general and in particular have commended themselves to my prayers, and for the well-being of the Holy Roman Church. Amen. May joy and peace, amendment of life, room for true penitence, the grace and comfort of the Holy Spirit, and steadfastness in good works be granted us by the almighty and merciful Lord.”

In various prayers, the priest asks for the holiness and the virtues necessary to conduct the Mass, including prayers to the Blessed Virgin Mary and to St. Joseph.  The priest is free to choose which prayers to use.

Any of several prayers may be offered up following Mass.  Among the most commonly used are the Prayer to Jesus Christ Crucified and the Anima Christi.

Next: The Work of the Laity at Mass